Superabounding Grace
“…so that no advantage would be taken of us by satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes..” (2 Corinthians 2:11)
God’s Word tells us in this verse that ignorance or a lack of knowledge concerning satan’s methods and tactics gives him an advantage. The Greek word used here for “advantage” actually conveys a stronger meaning. The word is pleonekteo, which is a compound word meaning literally “to have or hold the greater portion” (pleon—“more, the greater part”; echo—“have or hold”).(1) It is easy to see why this is a word for “covet.” It also means “overreach.”(2)
In the sport of boxing, the person with the longer reach has the “advantage” and usually lands more blows. This word is also translated “make a gain”; satan makes a lot of gains on those who are unaware of his ways. Bullinger says it means “to make a prey of, to defraud.”(3)
Satan, the thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), is always “coveting” more: more people, more power and authority, more territory on earth, more control of people’s minds and actions. Not only is he a thief, He is also spoken of as one who kills and destroys: satan wants to cause more violence, more pain, more death and destruction. These things flow from his nature, from who he is.
A form of this same word, pleon, is used in another verse to describe the actions of satan. Romans 5:20 tells us that “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” The “abounding” of sin spoken of here is pleonazo: more, increasing, multiplying sin. Whether it be destruction, pain, violence, or just sin, generally speaking, satan wants more.
The second use of “abound” in this verse, however, referring to God’s grace, comes from an entirely different Greek word. It is unfortunate that some translations use the same English word to translate them. When they do so, the full meaning is missed.
The Great Bible teacher and Greek scholar, Rick Renner, points this out far better than I could. Before he mentions the word, he begins by describing a time when strong attacks of persecution and violence were occurring in the nation where he pastored. The city was in a political upheaval. A bomb actually exploded so close to his residence that his house shook. Yet, in the midst of this, the Lord told them to expand, to launch out into new steps of faith. All logic said this was ridiculous, but the Lord kept instructing them to do so, telling him, “Dig in deeper! Keep pressing forward! Don’t let up for one minute! This is a perfect opportunity for the Gospel message to be spread even further!”
Renner says:
“Right in the middle of all that chaos, we watched as God poured out His grace on us. Although it was a dangerous and difficult time, it was also a glorious moment to be serving in the Kingdom of God! God began to do marvelous new things in the nation where we lived. In that troublesome hour, people were open and hungry to know more about the things of God. They wanted answers and were willing to listen. As a result, people were saved; spiritual darkness was pushed back in people’s lives; and the Gospel was spread further than ever before! As God moved mightily in the nation, that very dark, precarious moment became a spiritually bright time as many were led into the Kingdom of God.”(4)
Then Renner gives the biblical explanation.
“This simultaneous operation of darkness and grace made me think of Romans 5:20, which says, ‘…Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.’ The word “abounded” that Paul uses to describe this abundance of sin comes from the Greek word pleonazo, which simply means “more.” It denotes something that exists in abundance. The Greek tense describes an abundance that is growing larger and more expansive with the passing of time. The implication is that sin is never stagnant but continually grows, increases, and expands. This means Romans 5:20 could be translated, ‘Where sin exists in abundance and is multiplying and constantly expanding….’ This describes the growing nature of unrestrained sin.
“But Paul doesn’t stop there! He goes on to say, ‘…Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.’ The words “much more abound” are from the Greek word huperperisseo, which describes something that is growing out of measure, beyond proportion, and out of its banks to a far-stretched extreme. It is like a giant river that is being flooded with water from upstream. Those waters are coming downstream so fast that the river can no longer hold the raging current in its banks. Its water rises, rises, and rises until it finally begins pouring out of its banks and begins to flood everything in sight. This is exactly the idea of the word Paul uses when he says, ‘…Grace did much more abound.’
“This means Romans 5:20 could be interpreted: ‘For wherever sin exists in abundance and is multiplying and constantly expanding, that is precisely the time and place where grace is poured out in a far greater, surpassing quantity.’”(5)
Incredible. Kenneth Wuest’s literal translation of the New Testament words this verse: “But where the sin was augmented, the grace superabounded with more added to that.” An endless, superabundant, never-ending supply of grace. Renner went on to say:
“Regardless of where we live and what we are facing — regardless of how bad the situation around us looks to our natural eyes — the grace of God is flowing downstream, and God is lavishly pouring it forth in abundant measure! In fact, it is impossible for us to imagine, measure, or even dream of the amount of divine grace God is sending in our direction. No banks can hold the flood of grace He is sending our way! It isn’t just ‘a lot’ of grace; it is more, more, more, and much more grace! The flood of grace will always far surpass the flood of sin and darkness!
“So when a situation looks bad, as it did so many years ago when we were living amid troublesome times in our part of the world, don’t be too surprised if you hear God’s Spirit say, ‘Pour it on! Keep it up! Don’t stop for a minute! Keep pressing ahead! It is in dark and difficult moments like these that I love to work the most! This is when My grace super-exceeds the darkness of the world. Wherever sin and darkness abound is where I really pour out My grace!’”(6)
We are seeing this fulfilled before our very eyes here in America. Satan, the thief and destroyer who is always coveting more; the one who divides with hatred and bitterness, promoting violence and murder; he who causes sin to abound, is desperately trying to stop what God is doing. And yet, the grace of God is overwhelming his actions EVERYWHERE. Grace is superabounding, with more added to that! Because of this, love will win, not hate; peace will win, not violence; the gospel will win, not the voice of evil.
So, as Holy Spirit spoke through Rick Renner, “Pour it on! Keep it up! Don’t stop for a minute! Keep pressing ahead! It is in dark and difficult moments like these that I love to work the most!”
Pray with me:
Father, God of superabundant, mega grace (Acts 4:33), we clearly see Your cascading river of life flowing into our nation, as well as to other nations. It is flowing downstream from heaven to earth so fast that the riverbed can no longer hold the powerful current. The water is rising and rising, pouring out of its banks and flooding everything in sight. We ask for this to increase even more, and more, and more.
In 2001, You showed me this river of life, this revival fire, blazing across the campuses of our nation…an unstoppable, raging, holy fire of revival. This has begun, now we ask You for more. Give us more of Your superabundant grace, bringing superabundant salvation, overcoming satan‘s inferior power of sin and death. We agree with Your statement to me in that vision, “Nothing can stop this. Nothing.”
Our decree:
We declare that where sin abounds, grace SUPERABOUNDS!
Click on the link below to watch the full video.
Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary (Iowa Falls, IA: Word Bible Publishers, 1992), p. 1173.
James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. no. 4122.
Ethelbert W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1975), p. 28.
https://renner.org/article/where-sin-abounds-grace-much-more-abounds/
Ibid.
Ibid.